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An F means the student has completed proficient work on fewer than one-half of the course objectives and cannot
successfully complete the next course in sequence.
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Imagine two different grade books for the same set of students, as shown in Figure 1. Which one of the two better illustrates
what students know and what they still need to learn?
Homework Average
Quiz 1
Chapter 1 Test
John
90
65
70
Bill
50
75
78
Susan
110
50
62
Felicia
10
90
85
Amanda
95
100
90
John
Partially proficient
Proficient
Partially proficient
Bill
Proficient
Proficient
Partially proficient
Susan
Partially proficient
Partially proficient
Partially proficient
Felicia
Advanced
Proficient
Proficient
Amanda
Partially proficient
Advanced
Proficient
The standards-based grade book gives a wealth of information to help the teacher adjust instruction. Note that two objectives
(1 and 3) may require more class instruction. The notations for Objective 2, on the other hand, suggest that the class only
needs practice and one student needs some reteaching.
Students can also see much more information about their learning. In the traditional grade book, Amanda would assume she
is in great shape, but standards-based grading reveals that she has not mastered a crucial concept.
Gifted and talented students can be truly challenged in a standards-based classroom because if they show early mastery of
fundamental skills and concepts, they can then concentrate on more challenging work that is at higher levels of Bloom's
taxonomy or that seeks connections among objectives.
Students who struggle can continue to retest and use alternate assessments until they show proficiency, and they are not
penalized for needing extended time. I guide students with special needs to modify their work and, if needed, develop different
ways of demonstrating that they've met their proficiency goals. Their working styles can be easily accommodated in this
system because modified assignments and assessments require no special adjustments in the grade book. The grade book
simply shows where they are in meeting the standards, without reference to how they are demonstrating their learning or what
modifications needed to be made.
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sufficiency. We can and should report information about student performance in areas like attendance and effort, but we can
report it separately from academic achievement (O'Connor, 2007; Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006).
References
Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
O'Connor, K. (2007). A repair kit for grading: 15 fixes for broken grades. Portland, OR: Educational Testing Service.
Tomlinson, C., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design. Alexandria, VA:
ASCD.
Patricia L. Scriffiny is a math teacher at Montrose High School in Montrose, Colorado; pscriffiny@mcsd.k12.co.us.
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